Camp Pendleton Marines see heavy combat in Sangin

General says clear, hold, build strategy progressing

In this Sept. 29, 1010 photograph, a girl walks past U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Seth Little, 22, of Bremen, Ga., as he patrols through a field in Marjah, southern Afghanistan. Since arriving in mid-July, troops from the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines' Echo Company have spread out across 13 small, spartan outposts in northern Marjah, a vast patch of fields and ancient hardened mud homes without running water or electricity. (AP Photo/Todd Pitman)
— AP

In this Sept. 29, 1010 photograph, a girl walks past U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Seth Little, 22, of Bremen, Ga., as he patrols through a field in Marjah, southern Afghanistan. Since arriving in mid-July, troops from the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines' Echo Company have spread out across 13 small, spartan outposts in northern Marjah, a vast patch of fields and ancient hardened mud homes without running water or electricity. (AP Photo/Todd Pitman)
/ AP

“As they've moved out to expand the security bubble, obviously, they've run up against resistance,” Osterman said. “However, the casualties that they've taken, while seeming acute here in the near term with these last two weeks, are not unusual for the kinds of casualties that we've incurred when we've gone into other areas for the first time.”

The resistance was no surprise. But Osterman said he wanted in particular to express his condolences to the relatives of those wounded and killed in Sangin. “We as a family out here obviously feel a great sense of loss as well,” he said